Alex G-migration

If the books are in mylar, will the acid in a non-acid free box pass thru the mylar?

I would think not.

 

I read that over time it would contribute to the overall deterioration, which was the whole point to this topic. Has anyone heard of or had any experience with the microchamber boxes at the URL below? Any thoughts about it?

 

http://www.conservationresources.com/Main/section_3/section3_5.htm

 

Does it offer the same advantages as the paper that goes inside the comics?

 

The microchamber boxes are made of board just slightly thicker than a fullback. Nothing like the corrugated cardboard used in "standard" comic long or short boxes.

 

Yes, it offers the same advantages as the paper that goes inside the comics

The way you say that it's "nothing" like the corrugated cardboard, it sounds like that's a bad thing. Is that the case? I would think that since standard cardboard boxes are not acid-free and that microchamber boxes offer the advantage of absorbing acidic pollutants like the paper that goes in the comics, that would mean that the microchamber boxes would be a much better choice. Would you disagree with that statement?

My method, for what it's worth, is the following.

 

Insert two pieces of microchamber paper...one behind the front cover and one in front of the back.

 

Insert comic into Mylite2 Mylar sleeves from Gerber. Use fullback acid-free/buffered backing boards from the same company.

 

Then I put the comics into corrugated plastic short boxes, which are by nature acid-free. These are available from bagsunlimited.com.

 

The company is fantastic and sells all sorts of useful products! I highly suggest them!

 

Yes, I was thinking about looking into their plastic acid-free boxes. Do you get your microchamber paper from them also? If so, what do you think of the size? It seems like it would be too small to me, especially compared to the ones they sell at Frameitagainsam.com which appear to be the perfect size to cover an entire comic page. Have you had a chance to look at the microchamber boxes at Conservationresources.com? What do you think of your plastic acid-free boxes compared to those?

If the books are in mylar, will the acid in a non-acid free box pass thru the mylar?

I would think not.

I read that over time it would contribute to the overall deterioration, which was the whole point to this topic. Has anyone heard of or had any experience with the microchamber boxes at the URL below? Any thoughts about it?

http://www.conservationresources.com/Main/section_3/section3_5.htm

Does it offer the same advantages as the paper that goes inside the comics?

I'm hoping someone here might know some alternative sources of supply for Acid Free Comic Boxes.

 

I've been slowly converting my better stuff to these storage boxes from Gerber:

#13 corrugated comic cartons

Gerber

 

However, hey called me on my latest order and said they haven't stocked these for months, and no longer have a supplier.

 

They appear to be the same item that Bill Cole stocks, but BC's price is more than double:

#13 acid free corrugated cartons

BC

 

I've found some similar items at cheaper prices from Gaylord and Conservation Resources, but they are all odd sizes:

CR

 

Another boardie referred me to "Comic Book Storage Boxes" from Hollinger Metal Edge - the sizing is 15D x 8 3/4W x 12H (as opposed to Gerber's 15 x 8 x 11 1/2) and they're $59.20 for 3 boxes:

linky

 

Do any of you know of another source of supply for the #13 boxes, or equivalent, that has more reasonable pricing?

Has anyone found a solution to this? I'm in the same spot. Everyone says "acid-free" everything...so far I've found great solutions for the bag (Mylites2), boards (fullbacks), and even good microchamber paper for inside the comics (from conservationresources.com), but no sensible solution for the comic box.

Much like this post, I was going to go with the box 13 from Egerber.com, but they said they're out and won't get anymore until next year (and wouldn't be more specific about WHEN next year). The Bill Cole boxes are WAY too expensive. I saw the same boxes you did at Hollinger Metal, but they're about as expensive as BC.

I'm curious about the microchamber boxes at the conservationresources.com site. If it's the same material that removes acidic and other pollutant qualities as the paper you put inside the comics, wouldn't it stand to reason that it would also help with that if the box was made of the same material? It's very expensive also though. Anyone have any thoughts?

Did you ever find an answer to the question about whether the full-backs last as long as the Mylar bags? I realize this thread is 10 years old, but I was wondering this same thing recently. What's the point of having the convenience of not having to replace your bags for 100 years if you'll still have to replace the board every 5-10 years? The other reason I wanted to reply to a 10 year old thread is that you mentioned you'd check how your boards were doing in 10-15 years...well it's been 10 years So how are those boards?

I bought a few thousand half-backs for my moderns and a thousand or so full-backs for comics worth more than $20. I was going to buy full-backs for everything, but then I realized that not only is it not worth it for cheaper comics, a significant amount of the space my collection would have ended up taking would have been due to the boards. Once you board comics, you can only fit about 2/3 the number of comics into a box that you could fit if they were unboarded. I figured the full-backs would reduce that to about 1/2 the amount.

 

The other issue with boards is that even though Mylar is supposed to stay non-acidic for 100+ years, I haven't heard much about whether that's true for the Cole/Gerber boards or not. Cole and Gerber sell the boards with calcium carbonate in them, which makes them last longer without becoming acidic. But does that mean they never become acidic? I asked both Cole and Gerber this in email. The owner of Gerber said he wasn't sure and that he's heard it both ways--they last forever and they last 10 years--and Cole said they never need replacing.

 

I dunno...guess I'll look at 'em in about 10-15 years and see if they look yellowed!